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Friday, 21 September 2007

Two days ago one our top guarding dogs, Tylee, gave birth to nine puppies. Sadly one didn’t make it leaving us with five males and three females. This is the third litter for Tylee as she continues to pass on her remarkable guarding dog genes. Her daughter Uschi is expecting her second litter due at the end of the month. Both litters are fathered by Amos, our breeding male. These dogs will be placed with farmers around Namibia that have applied for a dog to help protect their small stock herds. Since 1994 we have placed over 250 dogs around Namibia.

Over the last couple weeks we have collared 3 wild cheetahs from different range areas on our farms and are currently collecting data on their movements. This is CCF’s first time using GMS collars and will allow for a much more detailed data collection. All three are cheetahs that we have seen on this year’s camera census. One is a tailless male that we have seen in the previous year’s census, and he appears to be doing quite well despite the lack of a tail.

Today we inadvertently caught a Leopard in one of the cage traps. He was a large male weighing in at 71kg! This was some unexpected excitement as we drove up to the check the trap. Our team did a medical workup in the field in order to collect biological samples and take measurements (see photo at left). We believe he is a male found on the cameras from the neighbouring farm. This gave us a great opportunity to learn more about the other predators on our farms. With one collar left we await the final cheetah and so check the cages throughout the day.

Friday, 7 September 2007

The cheetah cub we call Little C is already trying to climb trees, and spends time with Kanini (through the fence), althought she shows some displeasure when he tries to swat at her. The cub has also been spending time with Chewbaaka (also through the fence). They seem to like each other.